Chain transmission mechanism for automobiles.



W. J. BBLGHER. CHAIN TRANSMISSION MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLIUATION FILED D3011, 1911 1,113,296.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914.

2 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

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BY I I I ATTORNEYS WQ J. BELCHER. CHAIN TBARSHISSION MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILES.

, LPPLYIUATIOH FILED DE(J.11. 191] 1 1 1 3,296, Patented Oct. 13, 1914 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

I Ill/III WITNESSES: LVVEN 70A; X/ %/'/6/L ([36 Zak 6/;

A TTORNEYS WARREN J. BELCHER, 0F

HARTFORD, C-ONNEC JTICUT.

CHAIN TRANSMISSION IVIECEIANISIVI FOR AUTO MOBILES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent-ed O.ct. 13, 1914.-

Application filed December 1l, 1911. Serial No. 665,141.

To all 'wliom'it may cancer-n:

.Be it known. that I, lVAiuinzv J BELCHER,

.a citizen of the United States of-Ainerica,

residing at l lartfcrd, in the county of Hartfcrdand State of Czmnecticut, have invented new and useful improvements in Chain 'l ransmiss icn Mechanism for Automobiles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an automobile transmission "system and is specifically ap I counter-shaft will remain idle when the direct driving mechanism is in use.

'It also an ob ect of this invention to provide a chain reverse system of efiicient.

construction.- v

Other objects of the invention Will .appear in the-detailed description and annexed claims since, broadly, the" object of the iii-' vention is to generally improve an automobile transmission system.

In the drawings forming part of this application-i i iure l is a view of the sembled traiisu'iission system supported inits C2\Sll l 'f,-"tl'l(l uppci-part of which is removed, the several gears and clutches being shown in cross section to better illustrate their construction. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the n'ieaiis fi-r moving and locking the shifting bars which operate. the several clutches. Fig. 3 isa cross sectional view of the assembled transmission system talceu on the line 2L of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a. cross sectional view ufthe same. taken on the llllQ.i--lof-lfig. 1,. and showing thespeciiie means of obtaining the reverse drive.

Referring; lo the drawings in detail, the engine shaft I; counter-shaft. w, and driveshaft'r: are supported in the casing a bv iiitablc roller bcarini's'. A lJtili'ltlfI is also I to end. The engine drives the shaft- I) which has pinned thereon the clutch member In.

A special form of clutch construction is containedin'the member l which, in its operation, shifts certain clutch members into and out of engagement, as may be readily trace-d frcm the drawing, as follows: If it is desired to havethe engine drive direct, the clutch member l is moved to the right by the operating bar a and connecting-bar i (Fig. l) the clutch member is is then en.- tered by the clutch member I which is driven then by /c.- The clutch members 11' and 'm are separated since u isfast to the engine shaft 1) and m to'the clutch memherl. The

clutch members 0 and 71 are engaged" since 0 pinned to I] and ji. is pinned to c.

T he direct drive from the engine shaft 1) is as follows5-through Ii: to the clutch memher I which drives, through the pins shown, the clutch member 0. Since the clutch member 7), now in engagement with o, is pinned to the drive-shaft a; the latter is driven di-- rectl y by the engine shaft 1). Inthis direct drive, it should be noticed thatjthecliitch members 1* and q, which when ii engagement, drive the counter-shaft at through the gears s and t and the connecting cha n, are

separated and the counter shaft is therefore:

idle. In the directdrive, as traced out, since it is necessary to move the clutch member to the right, the clutch member 9 is drawn away from the member 7', and it is impossible to drive the counter-shaft uand i at the same time drive direct. By'allowing the coniitershaft tii remain idle while. the direct driving, mechanism is in use, .a very important result is obtained, viz.thechains between the coiiiitershaftf and the drivingsliaft all remain idle during tlic'gi'eater part of running time. for the direct driving iucchanisi'ii. as well known, is most used. When it is dcsiredto drive with the intermediate spy-ed, the clutch member thrown to the left by means hereinafter dcscribed. whereupon-the clutch men'ibers q 1 and 1 a re put into engagement and the drive xii-(an the engine shaft is as follows: from the shaft '1 through the clutch member 1:. to the clutch member m, which latter is pinned to the clutch member Z, and to this memb r the t'illt!'ll n'icniber is also pinned.

rovided in the casing 11 to support .the The latter will therefore drive the clutch shafts b and 1:, where they are brought end member r (with which it is now in engag bis ment) which fast to the sprocket-wheel s,

and this sprocket-'Wheel'will drive its chain and the sprocket-wheel t which is pinned to the shaft u, as shown. Thus the countershaft uis driven fromthe engine shaft. Now, if the operating rod e, which moves the clutch member I to the left, is moved pinned on the'c'ounter-sha t 11 5a dsinco countershaft through the connections de-' the clutchfmember w is mned'to the driving-shaft c, the latter is driven from the scribed, and the intermediate speed is obtained. 'In a similar manner the low speed is obtained by operating the bar d, by means hereinafter described, to the right so that the clutch members 2 and 3 engage. When the reverse drive is desired, the operating member 01 is thrown tothe-left in Fig. 1., and the clutch members 4 and 5 engaged. This reverse .drive is obtained in the manner illustrated in Fig. '4.

A double-faced chain 11', such as is described in my copcnding application filed November 16, 1911, under Serial N01 660,590 is wrapped around the sprocket-wheels 6, 12, 7, and S, in the mannershown. The di-. rection of rotation of the counter-shaft u is" clockwise, and since the chain is running in the opposite direction :onthe opposite side of the sprocket-wheel and on the o po site face of the chain than when it is ma ring the run on the sprocket-wheel 6, a counter clockwise movement is given to said sprocketwheel 7 and driving-shaft.c. The sprocket- Wheels 8 and 12 form a convenient ,means for a very essential support to properly guide the chain around the sprocket-wheel 7. By using the chain described in my said copending application and as described therein, it is possible to have the pitch-line of the sprocket-wheels 7 8, and 12 tangent in such a manner that the chain will run between these sprocket-wheels in a most efficient manner and in less space than any other chain.

Other forms of chain could be used besides the specific one which I desire to use, but if any other form of chain is used considerable more spiace in the. transmission box would be necessary than is the case wherethis specific form is used.

Since it is very important to economize space, especially in an automobile transmission casing, a very important feature of my invention is the fact that my reversing mechanism takes up so little space.

In operating the several clutch members as described, I make use of the following arrangement which will give a convenient means. of throwing the clutches and at the as follows: It is same time positively prevent more than one clutch being operated at the same." time. This means is best shown in Figs. land. 2. In Fig. 1 a modified form of selective mechanism is used. This mechanism which is similar to that well-known and heretofore used in this art, comprises a} pair of sliding clutch operating bars, having.- keyways therein, a. slotted cruciform plate and 3; ever operating with the plate, all as clearly shown and described hereinbelow. The and operated lever is shownatlfi and it rocks a rod it having an operatin lever g for'engaging and moving the tor: a d and e. The operator of the car, starting with the lever 16 in the osition shown, has his machine at rest. W en it desired to go intmlow speed the lever 16 is-operated ulled frointhe position shown in Fig. 1 order that the lever 9, may move the slot in the bar e into exact registering with the slot in the'bar (1. Wheat e slots in the two bars d and e are in this position,

then and only then can the lever g be moved It over to operate the bar d and its associated clutches. This is true because the locking rst over to the right in osition member f having the (yoke portion, as shown in Fig. 2, has its en portions snu ly sliding in a guide of the casing a. enever the operator desires to move the lever g from the operating slot of one bar to the slot in the other bar to operate t'he latter. as from the bar 0 to the bar a? when low s eed is desired, it is necessary to have the s ots in the exact registerin position for otherwise the end portion 0 the interlocking device can not slide through the bars and allow the lever to pass from one operating slot. to the-other. When the slot in the bar 6 is moved to the left iorregistermg, the counter-shaft u is driven by the engine-shaft?) through the connections a1" ready described. The construction just described will be clear from an examination of Figs. 1 and2. After the lever g is placed in the operating slot of the bar d,.the bar 6 is positively prevented from any movement by the end portion of the interlocking device f. The lever 16 can now be operated to the fposition marked Low which will move t e lever g and, through the bar (1,

put the clutch members 3 and 2 into engage--.

ment whiclnas already described, will give the drive-shaft 6 its low speed. All the other speeds and the reverse can be obtained by operating the hand-lever 16to the proper position marked on the-selective mechanism in Fig. l in a similar manner to they operation described. nections may be readily traced out by an examination of Fig. 1.

The form of clutch preferably used in this transmission mechanism is as illus trated. In this form a set of dogs on one All the movements and conclutch member, in an arrangement similar to the teeth of an internal gear, is adapted to be engaged by a set of dogs on the other clutch member in an arrangement similar to a spur gear, the ends of these dogs being rounded to a point to allow quick and positive engagement of the two sets of teeth,

All the chains used in the transmission mechanism are of the silent type for the reason that one of the principal things desired in this transmission mechanism is silence. There are other advantages of the chain transmission mechanism for automobiles besides the lack of noise. The chain transmission mechanism has an eliiciency of approximately 96 er cent, it has longer life than an intermes ing gear transmission mechanism, in case of accident the chain transmission mechanism can be repaired or renewed at a much lower cost than the in termeshing gear type, for the parts are all easier to make. If one chain breaks, the other chains can still be used for the chain will fall to the bottom of the box and its weight will prevent it from moving to interfere with the operation of the other chains. If an intermeshing gear stripped the small parts will work between the other gears and spoil those gears. This is a dis tinct advantage of the chain transmission mechanism over the other type. The load in the chain transmission mechanism is transmitted and received by approximately half of the sprocket-Wheels, but in the in termeshing gear transmission mechanism the load is carried by a few teeth.

\Vhile applicants device has been described rather specifically in order to show an operative device, it is to be understood that he claims as his invention, broadly, all the combinations as set forth in the following claims without regard to the specific form in which said combinations may be used.

What I claim, is:-

1. An automobile transmission mechanism comprising an engine shaft, a driving shaft, a counter-shaft, chain connections between said counter-shaft and said driving-shaft. a chain connection between said engine shaft and said counter shaft having a clutch member coiiperating with said enginv shaft. and said driving-shaft, operable when in one position to dircctlv connect said engine shaft with said driving-shaft and dist-on nect the engine shaft from the counter. shaft and operable when in another position to connect the engine shaft with the countershaft and break the direct connection of the engine shaft with the drivingshaft.

2. An automobile transmission mechanism comprising an engine shaft, a. driving shaft, a counter-shaft, a silent chain connection between said engine shaft and said counter shaft, silent chain connections between said counter-shaft and said driving-shaft having clutch members for rendering said chain connections operableor inoperable, as desired, one of said last named chain connections arranged to drive from the counter shaft to the. driving-shaft in reversed direc tion, said reversing chain connection having sprocket-wheels arranged to carry a doublefaced chain,

An automobile transmission mechanism comprising an engine shaft, a driving shaft, a countershaft, a chain connection between said engine and counter-shaft, chain connections between said countersl1aft and the drivingshaft having clutch members arranged to control said chain connections, and means for operating said clutch members to render said first chain connection operative before any one of the othe'r chains can be operated.

4. An automatic chain transmission mech anism comprising an engine shaft, a count er-shaft, a driving shaft, means for connecting and disconnecting the engine shaft and counter shaft, gears mounted on said countenshaft and driving shaft over Which silent chains are adapted to run, silent chains to connect said gears, the gears on one shaft being fixed thereto, the gears on the other shaft being loose thereon, clutch members arrai'igcd to connect the loosely mounted gears to the shaft, as desired, so that a driving connection may be established from the' conntershaft to the driving shaft, one of said chain gear connections being a chain. reverse mechanism to give the driving'shaft an opposite rotation to the counfer-shaft.

5. An automobile chain transmission mechanism comprising an engine shaft, a counter-shaft, a driving-shaft, a chain driving mechanism from the engine shaft to the counter-shaft, one chain driving lYlOChillllSlIl from the conntenshaft to the driving-shaft for each speed forward desired, achain driving mechanism from the counter-shaft to the driving shaft for the reverse comprising a gear on the counter-shaft, a gear on the drivingshaft, two idler gears one above and the other below one of said gears, and a doublefaced chain arranged for the teeth on one face to engage the teeth of one of said gears and both idler gears and the teeth on the other face to engage only the teeth on the other gears.

6. An automobile chain transmission mechanism comprising an engine shaft, a counter-shaft, a driving shaft, a chain driv ing mechanism from the engine shaft to the counter-shaft, one chain driving mechanism from the counter-shaft to the driving-shaft for each speed forward desired, a chain driving mechanism from the counter-shaft to the drivingshaftfor the reverse comprising a gear on the counter-shaft, a gear on the driving-shaft, two idler gears one operable to effect the rotation of said drivdirectly above and the other directly below the gear on the driving-shaft, thethree last mentioned gears arranged to have a common center line and the two idler ears having their pitch lines tangent with t e pitch line of the gear on the drivin shaft, and a double-faced chain arrange to run from the gear on the counter-shaft around one idler around the gear on the driving-shaft to reverse the direction of that gear around the other idler, and back to the counter-shaft ear. g 7 A mechanism of the class described comprising an engine-shaft, a driving-shaft and a counter-she t operativcly located relative to said drivingshaft, means for connecting and disconnecting the engine shaft and connter shaft, positive flexible driving connections between said counter and driving shafts to rotate the iatter in either direction, together with a clutch mechanism ing shaft in either direction, as described 8. A mechanism of the class described comprising an engineshaft, a driving-shaft in axial alinement therewith, a counten shaft. positive flexible driving connections between said counter and said other Si; to rotate the driving-shaft in either do, a

between said counter shaft an said driving shaft, a driving? connection between said engine shaft and said counter shaft, having a clutch member cooperating with said engine shaft and said driving shaft operable when in one position to directly connect said engine shaft with said driving shaft and dis connect the engine shaft from thecounter shaft and operable when in another position to connect the engine shaft with the coun ter shaft and break the direct COEIHGCiLiOB of the engine shaft with the driving shaft.

WARREN J. BELCHER 

